Yes, I, Stu, am here to present you with a new project, The Golden Age Of Metal! Not "metal" as in the various elements, mind you, but HEAVY Metal, the style of music that's my far-and-away favorite, and has partially defined my life for decades now, so long has the love for it been with me. But, before we get to the meat of this project, first I suppose I should explain what it's about exactly; put simply, this will be an entry-by-entry discussion of at least five trailblazing, defining Metal records year-by-year from a decade-long period I'm going to define as the Golden Age Of Metal (duh). But, as for what exactly the Golden Age Of Metal is, there's still currently no "official", scholarly definition of it, at least, not one you can find on Wikipedia, Arbiter Of All Online Truths; every attempt I've made searching online for the term "Golden Age Of Heavy Metal" has only lead me to random articles and blog entries on the subject, many of which conclude that the 80's as a whole was the Golden Age Of Metal.

And, while that decade was certainly extremely important to the history and the development of the genre, I personally define the Golden Age a bit differently than that, as, while I'm certainly not any kind of expert on the roots of the genre, to put it in terms we can all understand, basically, the influence of the Rock 'n Roll of the 1950's eventually led to the Hard Rock of the 60's, which evolved further into the early Metal of the 70's, including, of course, the explosion of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal towards the end of that decade, which continued strong through the early 80's. However, despite the strength of the NWoBHM movement, and its massive influence on various subgenres of Metal, in my opinion, the Golden Age of the genre would not begin until a bit further into the decade, when we not only began consistently getting an unprecedented (and unmatched ever since) amount of great, classic albums, but also records that would prove to be genre-defining to the biggest, most important styles of modern Metal, as the style really developed, diversified, and expanded outside of Britain to become a truly global(ly dominate) phenomenon. But, when exactly this age began as far as I see it, you'll learn soon enough; in the meantime, just be patient, and get ready for The Golden Age Of Metal, baby!

We kick the first year of this project off with Iron Maiden's Powerslave, a Metal record that needs no introduction from a Metal BAND that needs no introduction, as it serves as the monumental capper to a back-to-back series of iconic records we got from the poster boys of NWoBHM throughout the first half of the 80's, from the scrappier, punkier stylings of the Di'Anno records, to the more melodic, EPIC tone of the Dickinson era, which defined the band's style and made them worldwide icons, so it was a no-brainer to go with slave as being the foremost representation of Traditional Metal that was released in '84. However, I wouldn't exactly describe this as being a revolutionary record for Maiden, but rather, a refining, revisiting the bigger, more ambitious leanings of 82's Number Of The Beast after the band had the chance to get a bit more comfortable with Dickinson/newcomer drummer Nicko McBrain through the more humble, but still equally enjoyable stylings of '83's Piece Of Mind. At any rate, from the blazing opener "Aces High" to the soaring instrumental "Losfer Words", or the absolutely epic, 13-minute record closer "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner", this is Maiden at their best, as Murray & Smith's amazing riffs and solos blaze away as intense as ever, Steve Harris's incredibly energetic, galloping bass holds down the low end in his signature virtuoso manner, and of course, the operatic vocals of the Air Raid Siren, Mr. Bruce Dickinson himself, fly higher and farther than ever before, resulting in what is still the band's finest hour, as far as I'm concerned; up the Irons, punks!

Oh yeah, and I was originally just going to batch my write-ups for all 5+ records per year in one big, long post, but I was worried that might be too much text/too many albums to absorb properly in one go, and might not get as much of a response, so I decided at the last minute to just try to post about one record a day for the next couple of days until everything I wanted to cover for '84 is done, then maybe wait a week or so, and then start the cycle again for '85-onward. If that doesn't work out, I'll just start shotgunning every record from the year in question into one huge post at once like I originally planned. And as for all those review/article links you see in my post there, those are to this now-defunct, deleted (hence why I had to use Wayback Machine for a lot of them) Swedish Metal site called Global Domination, where I wrote for a couple of years under the name "Smalley" starting in 2009; like I said, it's been gone since 2014, but a spin-off forum called Global Domination Is Dead (as you can see linked to in my post) has been running occasional articles ever since, and that's the next site I'll try to post this project on, once I finish with '84 here, and have that as a proof of concept.

Curious to see some of your picks later on especially. Just speculating, but I assume you shifted the decade a bit to accommodate the death metal boom of the early '90s (although your tastes in the heavier subgenres probably lean a bit more melodic than mine).

Are there any entries earlier in the decade you would have liked to write up? For me (admittedly much less knowledgeable about the genre than yourself), 1980 is the first year that metal really felt like metal (the '70s stuff due to a mix of production style and the overall progression of heaviness still feels a lot like hard rock in a lot of cases), but as far as really seminal early '80s metal albums go, if I had to pick just one, I'd probably go with Black Metal by Venom. Not that there aren't better albums from around the same time, but that one's influence on the increasing heaviness of the genre can't be ignored.

Also, I suspect my favourite album of 1984 won't make it. (Although it's technically a 1983 album, if you go for the European release date over the American.)

Rock wrote:Curious to see some of your picks later on especially. Just speculating, but I assume you shifted the decade a bit to accommodate the death metal boom of the early '90s (although your tastes in the heavier subgenres probably lean a bit more melodic than mine).

Are there any entries earlier in the decade you would have liked to write up? For me (admittedly much less knowledgeable about the genre than yourself), 1980 is the first year that metal really felt like metal (the '70s stuff due to a mix of production style and the overall progression of heaviness still feels a lot like hard rock in a lot of cases), but as far as really seminal early '80s metal albums go, if I had to pick just one, I'd probably go with Black Metal by Venom. Not that there aren't better albums from around the same time, but that one's influence on the increasing heaviness of the genre can't be ignored.

Also, I suspect my favourite album of 1984 won't make it. (Although it's technically a 1983 album, if you go for the European release date over the American.)

Partly, yes, although there was another, certain extreme Metal movement arising from Scandinavia from later in that decade that I'll also be covering here, which is why I started as late as I did into the 80's (and yes, I do like the more melodic examples of extreme Metals, although every record I feel worth covering will be covered here, regardless of whether or not I actually enjoy them or not).

Anyway, there were classic releases for every year of the early 80's, mostly due to the explosion of NWoBHM during that time (along with the continued success of certain, older British act), but 1980 is actually the only year from that time that I feel have at least 5 classic records worth writing about in depth, as the other years from that period are just too spotty to write about in such length... although, if this thread goes as planned, I'll eventually be writing supplemental entries covering the rest of the history of Metal, with about at least one record per year from the beginning of the 70's up until present day, so never fear, the other years will see some coverage eventually! And yeah, while I personally don't enjoy the particuarly muddy, low-fi productions early Venom was famous for, as far as extreme Metal goes, it's hard to think of any other band that came before them, or ended up being more influential.

And, I don't think I'll end up covering in detail your #1 from '84, unless I've been mislead on the American release of any of the 5 I've already chosen, but we'll find out for sure later, won't we?

We kick the first year of this project off with Iron Maiden's Powerslave, a Metal record that needs no introduction from a Metal BAND that needs no introduction, as it serves as the monumental capper to a back-to-back series of iconic records we got from the poster boys of NWoBHM throughout the first half of the 80's, from the scrappier, punkier stylings of the Di'Anno records, to the more melodic, EPIC tone of the Dickinson era, which defined the band's style and made them worldwide icons, so it was a no-brainer to go with slave as being the foremost representation of Traditional Metal that was released in '84. However, I wouldn't exactly describe this as being a revolutionary record for Maiden, but rather, a refining, revisiting the bigger, more ambitious leanings of 82's Number Of The Beast after the band had the chance to get a bit more comfortable with Dickinson/newcomer drummer Nicko McBrain through the more humble, but still equally enjoyable stylings of '83's Piece Of Mind. At any rate, from the blazing opener "Aces High" to the soaring instrumental "Losfer Words", or the absolutely epic, 13-minute record closer "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner", this is Maiden at their best, as Murray & Smith's amazing riffs and solos blaze away as intense as ever, Steve Harris's incredibly energetic, galloping bass holds down the low end in his signature virtuoso manner, and of course, the operatic vocals of the Air Raid Siren, Mr. Bruce Dickinson himself, fly higher and farther than ever before, resulting in what is still the band's finest hour, as far as I'm concerned; up the Irons, punks!

Nice write-up. For some reason, I've never been that crazy about Iron Maiden. I like many of their songs, but it's not a band I go to often. "Aces High" is pretty good, but from that album I tend to prefer "2 Minutes to Midnight". There are also some of the songs in there that I don't remember. I should give it a spin one of these days.

On a side note, I put this video of the song as I read your writeup and it's so classic 80's The hair, the tight pants, lots of jumping, singing to an empty audience.

Torgo wrote:The widespread preference of Metallica over Megadeth is something I don't understand.

I think it must just get down to Mustaine's voice. And personality. And face.

I, for many years, couldn't get past any of that myself. But when I finally caved and bought something by them (Peace Sells), they just seemed so obviously superior. Better songwriting. Greater intensity. More experimental. Gar > Lars. Mustaine's Lead >>>>> Hammett. Cliff Burton seems to be the only component of Metallica that I feel could be argued to be better than his Megadeth counterpart. And even as bad as his voice is, its got considerably more texture than what is the monolithic growl of Hetfield.

And here are the number 1s from the genres I'm not currently big enough into to think of a top 5 from:

Grindcore:
Terrorizer: World Downfall

Doom Metal:
Cathedral: The Last Spire

Funeral Doom Metal:
Ahab: The Call Of The Wretched Sea

Viking Metal:
Bathory: Hammerheart

Symphonic Death Metal:
Septicflesh: Communion

Glam Metal:
Def Leppard: Pyromania

Stoner Metal:
Sleep: Holy Mountain

Industrial Metal:
Fear Factory: Demanufacture

Folk Metal:
Primordial: To The Nameless Dead

Sludge Metal:
Crowbar: Self-titled

Power Metal:
Iced Earth: Burnt Offerings (don't really consider them PM anymore, but dammit, they were the closest thing I could think of that I like from the style!)

I gotta say, one thing that perplexes me about the current metal landscape is the excessively-specific subcategorization of different genres. There's zoologists who aren't this anal about it. I wonder if you'd be willing to discuss that after you've completed your countdown.

(to be clear: I'm not asking you to describe the different subgenres, I could google that if I were interested. I'm asking about the need to categorize. Seems like it would be exhausting for me to keep up with.)

My impression of the Youtube comment section under every metal video:
"Is this symphonic prog-doom?"
"NO YOU IGNORANT SNOT WIPE IT'S CLEARLY MELODIC POWER SLUDGE! DO YOU HAVE EARS??"

crumbsroom wrote:
I think it must just get down to Mustaine's voice. And personality. And face.

I think there's some truth to that. But I also think it has to do with how the bands came to be. The fact that Mustaine left Metallica might give some the impression that Megadeth is "second rate" to Metallica. Kill' Em All being released a couple of years before Killing is My Business might've also cemented that idea that Megadeth was just a copycat of sorts. I think that early on, they were dismissed because of that. Even afterwards, I think the lack of stability in Megadeth's lineup didn't help them establish a certain public image as opposed to Metallica.

Thief wrote:
Other than the ones already mentioned, I would give some love to their 2004 album, The System Has Failed. I think it's an amazing album and it's probably the one I listen to most.

I hear y'all, I mean specific songs that tower as high as the best of Metallica, particularly since "better songwriting" has been cited here. I want to basically put Megadeth's 5-10 "best songs" against Metallica's and see what I think.

Wooley wrote:
I hear y'all, I mean specific songs that tower as high as the best of Metallica, particularly since "better songwriting" has been cited here. I want to basically put Megadeth's 5-10 "best songs" against Metallica's and see what I think.

I'm terrible with song names so...the first five songs on Peace Sells.

Songwriting wise, I personally find the Metallica's songwriting to be fairly basic and standard, and it is their arrangements that make the songs more interesting than they seem to me on paper. It is a style that works for them, and I do like Metallica (especially Ride the Lightning), but Mustaine's songwriting just seems much more expressive to me. They seem to explode in unexpected directions all the time. Ultimately, it's really just a taste thing, and is far from any objective fact (unlike Mustaine's guitar, which is objectively better than Hammett's )

I'll try to catch up with the rest of the new posts once I come back from work, but real quick just before I leave...

Wooley wrote:
I hear y'all, I mean specific songs that tower as high as the best of Metallica, particularly since "better songwriting" has been cited here. I want to basically put Megadeth's 5-10 "best songs" against Metallica's and see what I think.

...here are what I personally consider to be the best Megadeth songs off of their first 6 records (which is easily the best era of the band):

crumbsroom wrote:
I'm terrible with song names so...the first five songs on Peace Sells.

Songwriting wise, I personally find the Metallica's songwriting to be fairly basic and standard, and it is their arrangements that make the songs more interesting than they seem to me on paper. It is a style that works for them, and I do like Metallica (especially Ride the Lightning), but Mustaine's songwriting just seems much more expressive to me. They seem to explode in unexpected directions all the time. Ultimately, it's really just a taste thing, and is far from any objective fact (unlike Mustaine's guitar, which is objectively better than Hammett's )

You mean, like lyrically?
(I'm a musician so, for me, lyrics are great, but they're the icing, the music, arrangements or whatever, are the cake.)

Stu wrote:I'll try to catch up with the rest of the new posts once I come back from work, but real quick just before I leave......here are what I personally consider to be the best Megadeth songs off of their first 6 records (which is easily the best era of the band):

I will get to work!
I listened to "Holy Wars" today and I certainly thought it was good. It didn't make me forget Metallica, but I'm certainly open to more and more. Oddly, I've been much more open to metal in my mid-40s than I was in my teens or 20s or 30s.

Wooley wrote:
You mean, like lyrically?
(I'm a musician so, for me, lyrics are great, but they're the icing, the music, arrangements or whatever, are the cake.)

Not lyrically. I personally don't think of either of them much as 'lyrical' bands. Let's just call that aspect a wash between the two. Unless the fact that Mustaine at least tries harder counts. I imagine he tries so hard writing lyrics he makes his angry guitar face while scribbling them on the cover of his binder.

When I talk about songwriting, I just mean what is left once you strip it away to its core. Mostly, I don't think I am interested much in what Metallica songs are when completely stripped down. I want them with all of their adornments, the volume and solos and riffing. The sense of drama. But with a few obvious exceptions, I think the songs by themselves are somewhat inert. Megadeth's songs though, when unplugged, for me I think would retain more personality. Mustaine seems to have more idiosyncrasies in his song construction.

Ever wondered what it might sound like if Johann Sebastian Bach had been born about 3 centuries later, had grown up listening to Deep Purple & Rainbow, and ended up with the kind of raw guitar skill that would give peers like Satriani, Randy Rhoades, and even Eddie Van Halen a run for their respective monies? ...what, you have wondered that? Weirdo. Anyway, the answer to your oddly specific hypothetical lies within Yngwie Malmsteen's Grammy-nominated debut Rising Force, in which the Swedish guitar wunderkind takes the immortal guitar legacy of Ritchie Blackmore and absolutely runs with it, resulting the first truly essential, all-around work of Neo-Classical Metal, which you can hear in tracks like "Evil Eye" which are based on actual, old-school compositions of Classical music, only with a hefty infusion of the METAL to update them for the modern age. Of course, this is an almost completely instrumental recording where the riffs take a backseat to the almightly lead guitar, which, instead of being used as an occasional accent, is really the driving force (sorry) behind the music, and, admittedly, I know essentially nothing about how to play guitar, so most of the technical details of Malmsteen's skills go way, way over my head, but even I can still tell that he takes incredibly flashy, shred-tastic fret pyrotechnics that are as on fire on record as the conspicuously fingernail-painted hand on the album cover, and focuses them with catchy, well-composed melodies, solos, and actual, legitimate songwriting, as opposed to being just empty, pointless guitar wankery, proving there's a good reason why Yngwie is still a god to guitarists everywhere to this day, and it all started with this record right here, baby.

While I acknowledge that the style we now know as "Doom Metal" existed way, way before '84, to the point where the very first song on Black Sabbath's self-titled debut arguably created the sound all the way back in 1970, although some would put the origins of the sound back even further than that (just sayin', there's a good reason why Coroner, Type O Negative, and Mötley Crüe all recorded covers of that song). But, as far as I'm concerned, while Sabbath and a couple of other groups occasionally flirted with Doom-y sensibilities over the years, it wasn't until the Aurora, Illinois-based Trouble recorded their debut record Psalm 9 that the world heard the first example of what was an unambiguously, undeniably Doom Metal album in general. And, while there's still plenty of more up-tempo riffs here and there on this record (though even those parts are still awesome), and although they're far from the most iconic band in the genre (a certain Swedish group that helped cement the name of the style were yet to debut, as we'll soon see), Trouble was still the first band to record an album that was predominantly Doom, building upon the legacy of the almighty Sabbath with their downbeat, crawling tempos, ultra-thick, down-tuned, dread-laden riffs, and fantastic lyrical tales of spiritual darkness and warfare, all of which are elements that would come to be synonymous with the genre in coming years, and proving that, while Trouble may not have been the famous example of their particular style, they were certainly one of the first, in addition to just being one of the best as well; Iommi would be proud!

crumbsroom wrote:I'm hoping that Megadeth will be above Metallica in everything in this thread.

But I know this isn't going to happen.

Well, I'm not posting these write-ups in any sort of order from least to most personally preferred or anything like that, but rather, the order's much more determined by the record's general historical importance to the genre, which is not something I have any personal control over, but, seeing as how each band is incredibly important in terms of Thrash Metal (and I'm personally a big fan of both of them, which doesn't hurt either), we'll be seeing both of them as much as possible here, so don't you worry

Thief wrote:Nice write-up. For some reason, I've never been that crazy about Iron Maiden. I like many of their songs, but it's not a band I go to often. "Aces High" is pretty good, but from that album I tend to prefer "2 Minutes to Midnight". There are also some of the songs in there that I don't remember. I should give it a spin one of these days.

Thank you! Powerslave is probably my favorite Maiden record, but you're looking for recs from their other records, starting from the self-titled, I would personally recommend...

Ended up giving this a few listens at work. On one hand, the live production is probably pushing the limits of abrasiveness and I do feel like the construction of Scum and Enslavement are pretty immaculate, so hearing those songs out of order loses a bit of the cumulative effect, but who am I complain when the results are still this explosive?

Thief wrote:Other than the ones already mentioned, I would give some love to their 2004 album, The System Has Failed. I think it's an amazing album and it's probably the one I listen to most.

I was never really a big fan of System, I'm afraid; it's not a bad record, but besides "The Scorpion" (and maybe "Kick The Chair"), most of it never made a huge impression on me. Still, the band's certainly done worse...

Rock wrote:I'm a big fan of those first two albums, btw, although I remember Stu talkin' some smack about them.

Sorry, I've never really been a big fan of pure Grindcore (growing up listening the relatively orderly song structures of Metallica/Pantera hurt my appreciation of more chaotic songwriting). I have enjoyed some of the stuff I've skimmed from the later, more Death Metal-influenced part of their career, though!

crumbsroom wrote:Not lyrically. I personally don't think of either of them much as 'lyrical' bands. Let's just call that aspect a wash between the two. Unless the fact that Mustaine at least tries harder counts. I imagine he tries so hard writing lyrics he makes his angry guitar face while scribbling them on the cover of his binder.

When I talk about songwriting, I just mean what is left once you strip it away to its core. Mostly, I don't think I am interested much in what Metallica songs are when completely stripped down. I want them with all of their adornments, the volume and solos and riffing. The sense of drama. But with a few obvious exceptions, I think the songs by themselves are somewhat inert. Megadeth's songs though, when unplugged, for me I think would retain more personality. Mustaine seems to have more idiosyncrasies in his song construction.

I usually don't care THAT much about lyrics in Metal, but Megadeth's writing could noticably hit-and-miss sometimes, like their baffling decision to randomly mash lyrics about The Punisher, of all things, side-by-side with writing about religious extremism in "Holy Wars" (the latter of which are some of Dave's best lyrics ever), but whatever, it's not a big deal.

Anyway, as for the 'deth vs. 'tallica debate, for me, I would personally describe less than half of the records comprising the bands' respective discographies as being at least "pretty good", and most of those are firmly in the early days of each band, so they probably both should've retired some time ago but for me, either one is better than the other depending on which metric you use. If you're using consistency as your main yardstick, then Megadeth is definitely the better band, as, the early disappointment of So Far, So Good... So What! aside, their initial "Golden Age" still lasted longer, lasting up through Youthanasia, unlike Metallica's, which I feel ended as early as their fourth record, despite the moronic title, Th1rt3en is arguably a better record than anything Metallica's put out since the beginning of the 90's, and, despite the occasional misstep, 'deth has never done a record as terrible as St. Anger or "LouLou". That being said, if I'm just comparing career peaks, such as each band's first 4 records, then Metallica wins hands-down; while I do slightly prefer Killing Is My Business... to the other Kill (although Metallica's did have the disadvantage of being released at an earlier time when American Thrash was a less developed, more primitive style, and had yet to truly escape from the long shadow of classic British Metal/NWoBHM, and Metallica had already helped to pave the way for records like Killing in the first place), the next 3 match-ups are no contest, as Lightning,Puppets, and Justice are some of my favorite records in the genre (hell, Puppets is THE #1 Thrash record for me), whereas the only Megadeth that can possibly compete with those three is Rust (Peace Sells is very good, but the production lacks some punch for me, and there is some undeniable filler on it, like the the draggy second half of "The Conjuring", or that one part on "Wake Up Dead" around the 45 second mark where they just keep playing the same few boring riffs over and over for what feels like an eternity). So, as far as I'm concerned, Megadeth made a bunch of a good records in their career but only one truly great one, so I feel that, despite all the mistakes they've made since the 90's, I still have to put Metallica on top just because I love their 80's stuff SO much...

...I do agree that some of Megdeth's stuff still sounds good even acoustic, though:

Stu wrote:I usually don't care THAT much about lyrics in Metal, but Megadeth's writing could noticably hit-and-miss sometimes, like their baffling decision to randomly mash lyrics about The Punisher, of all things, side-by-side with writing about religious extremism in "Holy Wars" (the latter of which are some of Dave's best lyrics ever), but whatever, it's not a big deal.

Anyway, as for the 'deth vs. 'tallica debate, for me, I would personally describe less than half of the records comprising the bands' respective discographies as being at least "pretty good", and most of those are firmly in the early days of each band, so they probably both should've retired some time ago but for me, either one is better than the other depending on which metric you use. If you're using consistency as your main yardstick, then Megadeth is definitely the better band, as, the early disappointment of So Far, So Good... So What! aside, their initial "Golden Age" still lasted longer, lasting up through Youthanasia, unlike Metallica's, which I feel ended as early as their fourth record, despite the moronic title, Th1rt3en is arguably a better record than anything Metallica's put out since the beginning of the 90's, and, despite the occasional misstep, 'deth has never done a record as terrible as St. Anger or "LouLou". That being said, if I'm just comparing career peaks, such as each band's first 4 records, then Metallica wins hands-down; while I do slightly prefer Killing Is My Business... to the other Kill (although Metallica's did have the disadvantage of being released at an earlier time when American Thrash was a less developed, more primitive style, and had yet to truly escape from the long shadow of classic British Metal/NWoBHM, and Metallica had already helped to pave the way for records like Killing in the first place), the next 3 match-ups are no contest, as Lightning, Puppets, and Justice are some of my favorite records in the genre (hell, Puppets is THE #1 Thrash record for me), whereas the only Megadeth that can possibly compete with those three is Rust (Peace Sells is very good, but the production lacks some punch for me, and there is some undeniable filler on it, like the the draggy second half of "The Conjuring", or that one part on "Wake Up Dead" around the 45 second mark where they just keep playing the same few boring riffs over and over for what feels like an eternity). So, as far as I'm concerned, Megadeth made a bunch of a good records in their career but only one truly great one, so I feel that, despite all the mistakes they've made since the 90's, I still have to put Metallica on top just because I love their 80's stuff SO much...

...I do agree that some of Megdeth's stuff still sounds good even acoustic, though:

I can't disagree with any of this, and I understand the general preference that Metallica has earned over the years. And in all honesty, I probably listen to Lighting more than I listen to Peace Sells, and I've probably never listened to any metal album more than Justice (which I did until I dropped my cassette tape of it into a bowl of cereal...such a sad breakfast that was). So I get it.

My banging of the Megadeth drum mostly comes from the times I decide to put it on, how much I am overwhelmed by the fury that is just exploding out of every pore of Mustaine. Metallica are angry too,but in comparison it feels somewhat detained behind their refined discipline. Even their earliest works when looked back upon, seem almost tasteful, and certainly at times majestic. Mustaine is just a beast though, hugely talented but comparatively undisciplined. It allows his sound to feel uncaged, ready to explode in unexpected directions from moment to moment. Even though they are worlds apart in style and genre, Mustaines playing almost reminds me of what I'm draw to in Gregg Ginn's guitar from Black Flag, just shredding out these pockets of shrapnel that seemed to spread in every direction and ignite all of the oxygen left in the room. He is all excess, and frankly, excess is what I come to heavy music for. It is likely why I much more likely to be sucked into the gravitation pull of Napalm Death or Slayer or even the beyond deplorable Burzum, than a Judas Priest or Scorpions type band (does anyone still listen to the Scorpions?)

I also can't help but feel for the underdog that is Mustaine. Which is odd that I would feel anything at all for him since in every interview I've ever seen him in I want to hit him in the mouth. But, regardless of this, they are the quintessential second rans, always tagging behind their big brother, even though they have every right to be considered their equal. There is a kind of tragedy about this in them that probably fuels that burning rage that makes Mustaine as good as he is. You almost have to wonder if he would have excelled as he has, if it wasn't for his apparently constant need to prove himself to the gods.

Stu wrote:I was never really a big fan of System, I'm afraid; it's not a bad record, but besides "The Scorpion" (and maybe "Kick The Chair"), most of it never made a huge impression on me. Still, the band's certainly done worse...

I think I've only listened to Risk once.

As for System, it really does it for me. I really dig the whole first half. I find that stretch with Blackmail the Universe, Die Dead Enough, Kick the Chair, The Scorpion, and Tears in a Vial, really, really good. The second half loses a lot of steam, though.

I guess what we see here by my love of Dio ("Rainbow In The Dark" is seriously one of my favorite songs ever, I listen to it a few times a week and every time I'm at the gym) and The Scorpions is how much I enjoy it when hard rock/heavy metal focuses on and produces strong melodies. I find the marriage of these things to give the proceedings a razors edge and an almost magical electricity. The further it strays from great melody, the less my interest. Sabbath was obviously really good at this, but we're talking about the 80s.

Side question: Are we talking about "Hair Metal" here, like Poison and such?